The Institute for Technology and Innovation is under development. It will bring together under one roof the varied teaching events in the product, production, components and logistics topic areas that have already proven highly successful. The IFTI will serve as a new organisational platform for scientific and subject-specific exchange within the Group and with universities and non-university research establishments. The focus will be on all topics concerned with the development and production of vehicles and the associated innovations. Further development programmes will be developed and implemented in close collaboration with the departments, brands and regions, with the latest trends and research findings playing a direct role in programme content. For this reason, the IFTI also a partner of the Lower Saxony Research Centre for Vehicle Technology (NFF). The IFTI's research activities focus on projects already underway in the areas of product and production. Further research projects along the automotive value-creation chain are in preparation.

The Product topic area examines all vehicle-relevant factors that influence the technical parameters of product development and the product lifecycle. The emphasis here is on the following areas: Electronics Chassis Overall vehicle Hybrids and electric drives Powertrain Product-relevant environmental issues Current research activities are focused on applied methods of flow simulation in conjunction with powertrain R&D. Within the EU cooperation project entitled "Green and Safe Road Transport" (GAST), AutoUni is working with other international institutes on best-practice cases at the "European Institute of Innovation and Technology" (EIT).

Within the Production topic area, AutoUni offers lectures, seminars and courses that address production-technology and commercial issues. Key subjects are as follows: Production processes/technology (e.g. foundry technology, die-quenching) Energy and resource efficiency (e.g. using intelligent tools to boost efficiency, energy efficiency in production) Components Plant management Parts management using RFID Current production topics Trends in production research (e.g. innovative joining techniques, innovative materials in production) The events concerning current production topics and adjacent areas will be presented by researchers and industry practitioners. In addition, research activities leading to dissertations and Bachelor's and Master's theses are in progress. In particular, the Institute is overseeing the "Production research 2020" project under the auspices of the German Ministry of Education and Research. The goal of the events is to convey fundamental know-how and, at the same time, establish a uniform level of expertise within the Volkswagen Group. This assists standardisation, simplifies communication measures and reduces errors.